


Target Practice

by MinMaxSpeech



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Romance, Slice of Life, Written in an art trade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:47:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25556836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinMaxSpeech/pseuds/MinMaxSpeech
Summary: On a relatively calm day in Kirkwall, lovers Sebastian Vael and Helena Hawke decide to set up targets in a square, and relax together with a picnic and some target practice. Simply a routine day, relaxing with the person you love.
Relationships: Female Hawke/Sebastian Vael
Kudos: 3





	Target Practice

It was a surprisingly calm day for the city-state of Kirkwall. After so long of living in the city, chaos and insanity had almost become the norm. To have a day where one can just relax, enjoy the feeling of sunlight beaming down upon them, and enjoy the company of those they love, it was a rare indulgence, but one loved greatly by at least two individuals in the city. Helena Hawke, and Sebastian Vael. Starkhaven’s prince and Kirkwall’s champion had decided to spend the delightful day together, albeit in a rather unorthodox way. They had dragged a pair of old, wooden targets that had been stored within the Hawke Estate’s cellars out near the fountain in Hightown, set them up, and, after a while of preparation, also managed to set up a small picnic. 

Helena was distracted from the snack she was about to bite into by the sound of an arrow impaling itself upon the centre of the target.  
“Impressive.” Helena turned her gaze towards her boyfriend with a small nod and a smile. Sebastian mirrored it, his longbow held tightly in his grasp.  
“Thank you.” Sebastian fiddled with the string of the bow as he spoke. “I assume that you want to try to mirror me?”  
“Yes, but you see the food in my hands, don’t you?” Helena smirked. Sebastian chuckled, a rich, beautiful sound that Helena had grown to love hearing.  
“Surely your reputation is more important than that of a random snack!” Sebastian’s lips curled into his own grin.  
“Perhaps a random morsel, but this one is a pork bun. It wins.”  
“Woe is me, for falling for a girl that sees pork buns as more important than impressing her boyfriend.” Sebastian placed a hand over his chest, the smirk not leaving his features. If anything, it only grew. 

Sebastian nocked another arrow as Helena took a bite out of the still-warm pork bun. Helena’s eyes didn’t leave Sebastian as he readied his next shot, her eyes focused upon the prince’s impressive musculature. The sheer physical strength of archers had not been something Helena had realised prior to meeting Sebastian, but now that the mage was in fact aware of it, it was something she took great enjoyment in witnessing.  
“Enjoying the show?” Sebastian smiled as he looked over to Helena, his fingers still holding the arrow back- ready to fly towards the target at a moments’ notice.  
“Of course I am.” Helena leaned back against the cold stone of the fountain behind her. “A show and dinner? You give me the nicest things.”  
“I do try.” Sebastian smirked once more, turning his attention to the target as Helena took another bite of the pork bun. 

Sebastian released the arrow, and less than a moment later, the arrow found itself impaled next to the archer’s first arrow within the hardy wooden target.  
“I noticed you were slightly more off with that one. You alright?” Slight concern laced Helena’s tone as she observed her boyfriend set his longbow down upon the floor.  
“Of course I am. It’s just somewhat harder to shoot straight when you know you have a beautiful woman as a captive audience.”  
“Would it make you more comfortable if I blindfolded myself?” Helena shot back with a grin.  
“Perhaps later.” Sebastian laughed, “But for now, I do believe it’s your turn.” 

Helena rose to her feet, the last of the pork bun now having vanished into her mouth. Instead of picking up a bow like Sebastian’s, Helena closed her fingers around a staff made of hardy old woods and metals. The Ice Queen, as she had been nicknamed, may not require the same motions to shoot that Sebastian did, but it didn’t stop her efforts from being any less taxing of her skills. She observed as Sebastian took a seat almost exactly next to where Helena had sat while she watched him shoot. A small smile glimmered on her lips as she twirled the heavy staff in her grip, before she found it once more comfortably resting in her grasp.  
“Ready to see how professionals do it?” Helena quipped.  
“Oh, I didn’t know you hired someone to shoot for you.” Sebastian snarked back, the warm glow visible in his eyes being the clearest indicator of the archer’s joking.  
“Surely that’s what the noble prince of starkhaven would do, not the lowly ferelden apostate.”  
“Yes, truly, I hired an exact replica of me to act and shoot in my place so I can be away, praying before the Grand Cleric. You see through my ruse.” Sebastian chuckled. 

At the tip of Helena’s staff, a softly-glowing crystal of ice began to grow. Waving a hand over the cluster, the shapeless chunk quickly transformed into an immaculately-shaped shard of cold, pointed and sharp as the arrows that Sebastian fired into bandits, dragons, and beasts. A moment passed, and Helena stilled her breathing, focusing upon the target set out before her. Thrusting her staff forward, the shard of ice rocketed towards the target, impaling itself upon the old wood with relative ease. It was close, but not quite, a bullseye. Helena shook her head.  
“Do you want another go?” Sebastian inquired.  
“Yeah, I think I do.” Helena didn’t look over to Sebastian, and instead simply dissolved the ice in the target, and readied her staff once more. 

Another shard formed at the tip of Helena’s staff, sharp and pointed just as before. She decided to neglect the showmanship for this shot, instead focusing on trying to nail her spell into the centre of the target. She was a proficient shot, but unlike with archery, usually, where a spell hit didn’t tend to matter as much as making sure it simply landed in the first place. Squeezing upon the cold wood that made up her staff, she was about to fire her shot…

Until she felt a pair of muscular arms wrap around her. With a squeak, Helena’s shot went dramatically off-target, instead soaring through the window of a random window belonging to one of Hightown’s many nobles. The sound of glass shattering brought a wince to Helena. She’d probably have to pay for that, even if the owner of said house inevitably had more sovereigns than they knew what to do with.  
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I distract you?” Sebastian chuckled. His arms were still wrapped around Helena’s midsection. Helena dropped her staff to the floor, clattering across the cold stone ground. The moment the staff left Helena’s grip, she wriggled out of Sebastian’s strong grip, frowning. “What is it?”  
“You did that on purpose, you jackass.” Helena huffed, “Can’t handle knowing that your girlfriend is a better shot than you?”  
“I am simply showing affection to you, my dear.” Sebastian smirked, “Why else would I do that?”  
“You know why.” Helena glanced away.  
“Maker, what the fuck is this?” A voice cried out. Both Helena and Sebastian glanced to each other, then to the house the voice emanated from. The same one who’s window Helena had accidentally destroyed with a bolt of ice.  
“Deal with this later?” Sebastian questioned.  
“Later.” Helena agreed. With a pair of grins, the two snatched up their weapons, and sprinted away.


End file.
